Improvement in grass-harvesters



UNITED. STATES PATENT rrrce.

JESSE S. LAKE AND DAVID LAKE, 0F SMITHS LANDlNG, NEW JERSEY.

IMPROVEMENT IN GRASS-HARVESTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 9&3?, dated July 20, 1852.

- To all lwhom 4it' mail concern.-

Be it known that we, JESSE S. LAKE and DAVID LAKE, both of Sxniths Landing, in the county of Atlantic and `State of New Jersey, have invented a new and'useful Machine for Mowing. Which we call a Rotary MowingMachine, and we hereby declare the following to be a full and clear description thereof, reference being had to drawings herewith presented, which drawings constitute a part of said description, viz:

Figure lis an oblique view-of the 'whole ma chine. A A is a'triangular frame mounted on three,

wheels, B G D. lWheel B is the bearing-wheel, that takes the principal part of the weight, and

which gives motion to the revolving cutters.

D is the forward wheel, placed in a swivel- `frame, and leads 'a little tothe lelt,or'ont side" of the wheel B, for reasons hereinafter to be noticed. The wheel B has cogs on its inner side', driving a pinion on an upright shaft, (not seen by reason of the box Y,) which shaft has a belt-wheel driving the shaft I by the pulley whcel,and,as they may wearaway,can be moved down, so as to come near tothe top of the iingers' ot' the platform X X. The c tters are formed of plates of steel, forked a d bentso that the edge forms angangle-of abou't`eigh'ty or ninety degrees. These edges are brought lto correspond nearly with the plane of the plat'- form, and their corners are turneda little-upward to avoid vtheir strikin g u'nderthe clearer H, Fig. 2. The wheel E rests on friction-rolls N, which runon shaftsv thatradiate from the central ring, O. (Shown in Fig. 2.)

G Gare two cross-pieces secured to the po's'ts vT and T, and through these passes the'sliding piece M. F is a lever passing through near the bottom of the sliding piece, and on this lever the platform and wheel are supported. In the top of this piece M there is a small roller, under whlli he end of lever Kpresses upward. This lever wldensvout at the other end, forming a seat for thevl driver, whose weight serves as a. counter-balance for the platfogm, and by adjustinghis position nearer or iatther. from the fulcrum Z hecan cause the platform to press with more or less force on the stubble. The wheel runs on a pintlein the center of the platform, and the cutters or knives pass over clearer, H. (See Fig. 2, which is a top view of the platform AP, the wheel being removed to show the rolls N and clearer H.)

Similar letters refer to similar the iigures.

The clearer is a sort ot' knife or blade,at tached to two springs (shaded red) screwed down i-n grooves in the platform,l so that the blade liesnearly even with the surface. (See Fig. 5'. This is a vertical section of a part ot' the platform cut through the clearer.) At the end ot' the spring is seen a screw, fr, by which it is secured down. Near the middle is shown a screw, S, 'pushing up from below. The edge of the'clearer lies a little above the platform. The knives cnt across the edge ofthe clearer, and this vcuts away any grass that may stick to the cutters, and has a tendency to sharpen them. When this is not suii'icient to keep them sharp we use also a whetstone set in and-r adjusted in the manner of the clearer. Under the clearer is alaperture, cut through to allow any matter to pass on'. The lever which carries the platform is braced by rods U and V, leading from the bottom o f thepost T and partly balanced by the movable weight Q.

, It may be observed that the shaftl has a' bow at'its lower end, in which is a ring, w, se

cured by screw-pins in the common form of universal joints. To this is attached a double setof formed and jointed levers, L L, which, being connected to a similar ring at bottom secured to the wheelE, forms a double universal jointthat is,-a joint at top and at bottom of the levers-#and by the bending of the levers the two couplings are brought nearer or farther apart, allowing the wheel to rise or fall without aiectin g its rotary motion. (See Fig. 4, which shows one pair of these levers with their respective screws.) Thesecouplingsare so well known as not to need a minute 'de- -scriptiou of their several parts. The wheelD runs outside the standing grass. The cutterwheel E runs on the platform P, i'xcd'on the lever F, whichpasses-th ro'ugh the slidingpiece. M near the ground.4 The sliding of this 'pieceM allows the wheel and platform'to rise andfall,A and the rolling of the lever, which is' round and loose in the slide-piece, allows it to rock to the right or left and -to adapti'tself to the parts'in all surface of the earth. The crosspieces G and' G are secured to the .posts TVT. Now, to enable/the shaft I to give uniform rotary motion to the wheel it must be coupled with a universal joint. The coupling must also be capablo of 'being lengthened or shortened while in operation. This may be effected by a sliding shaft with groove and feather, or by jointlevers, as seen in Figs. 1 and 4. We prefer the latter on account of the levers causing the leastfrietion. The knives or cutters are secured on the outsideot' the wheel,"so as to revolve close to the upper side of the fingers of the platform.

Thenext essentialimprovementis theclearer H. This is a sort of knife set'. on springs in the platform, so as, to be adjusted by screws and to cut across the edges of the knives as theyrevolveoverit. (SeeFig.2.) Thesesprings are shaded red.

ln testimony whereof we hereto subscribe our names in presence of two witnesses.

JESSE S. LAKE. DAVID LAKE.

XVitnesses ENooH INGERsoLL. BENJAMIN BARRETT. 

